CTU Honorary Doctorate will be awarded to Professor Wolfgang Wahlster - News service

Publication date:

2020/01/07

The title Honoris Causa will be awarded to Professor Wolfgang Wahlster, founder and chief executive adviser of the German DFKI on 21 January at a ceremonial meeting of the CTU Scientific Council in the Bethlehem Chapel.

Wolfgang Wahlster is a prominent computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence (AI). He is also the spiritual father of the idea of Industry 4.0. Wolfgang Wahlster holds a degree in Computer Science and Theoretical Linguistics at the University of Hamburg, where he also received a doctorate in Computer Science. Since 1984 he has been a professor and head of the Artificial Intelligence Department at the Saar University in Saarbrücken. In 1988, Professor Wahlster founded the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), where he had a decisive influence on its development as the general director. Over the past 31 years, DFKI has become the largest nonprofit artificial intelligence center in the world, with more than 1,000 researchers working. Since 2019 he has held the position of Chief Executive Advisor at DFKI.

Wolfgang Wahlster is a pioneer of completely new disciplines that are at the interface of computer science, industrial engineering and the Internet of Things. He deals with the memory of semantic objects - digital twin, cyber-physical production architecture and hybrid teams of robots and workers for the industry of the future. He called his revolutionary vision Industry 4.0. Professor Wahlster's research in Industry 4.0 represents a real breakthrough in the industry's concept of the future. A completely new concept of production based on artificial intelligence has laid the foundations for synergistic collaboration between humans and robots in the smart factories of the future. These visions change the way we think not only in industry, but also in transport, smart cities, distribution networks, etc., and can be seen as an essential step in changing thinking that is absolutely necessary for the society of the future (Society 4.0).

He served as an expert on innovation under Chancellor Dr. Schröder and under Chancellor Merkel, when he defined and shaped many long-term national research programs linking academia and industry. He was the academic chairman of the ISTAG Group, which created the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) with a strong focus on applied research in the field of Artificial intelligence - such as smart buildings, intelligent car interfaces, intelligent networks and cyber-physical systems. Prof. Wahlster has been a member of the EIT Digital Executive Board since its inception.

He currently works as the Scientific Chairman of the Advisory Board for the European Commission's largest ICT program, which is labeled Internet of the Future PPP, and also as the Strategic Director of the BIG DATA Program for Public-Private Partnerships of the European Commission.

In 2006 prof. Wahlster received the Cross of Merit of the First Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for an outstanding contribution in the field of human-technology interaction. In 2019 he received the Great Merit Order of the Federal Republic of Germany. The German National Society for Computer Science has ranked him among the ten most influential figures in artificial intelligence.

Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster is a great supporter of Czech science. He personally contributed to the integration of the Czech AI community into European research by supporting it in the European AI Coordination Commission (ECCAI) and also helping Czech researchers around the world in the early 1990s.

Wolfgang Wahlster has always supported CTU and CIIRC since its inception. He developed cooperation of CIIRC with one of the most prestigious institutions - DFKI. He was involved in promoting the ideas of Industry 4.0. in the Czech Republic. It also played an important role in the inclusion of the Czech research community in major European projects such as RICAIP as part of the TEAMING program.

Wolfgang Wahlster is awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa for outstanding research results in artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0, for his long-term research cooperation with CTU in Prague and for the significant inspiration and support he provided to the Czech Industry 4.0 initiative.

Confirm your attendance at the meeting of the Scientific Council by e-mail: Ivana.Kinkalova@cvut.cz

Contact person: Ivana Kinkalová

CV Wolfgang Wahlster

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